Mass Transfer 1. Application of Full Factorial Design in the Measurement of Drying Rates of a Rotary Dryer

1. APPLICATION OF FULL FACTORIAL DESIGN IN THE MEASUREMENT OF DRYING RATES OF A ROTARY DRYER Drying is a physical separation process which enables to remove the liquid phase from a solid, semisolid or liquids by means of thermal energy. The aim of the experiment is to observe how various operational parameters affect the drying process in a rotary dryer. In drying process, heat is transferred by convection, conduction, radiation or heat generation. There is another classification type that changes by situation whether heat is transferred directly or indirectly. While retaining wall is an intermediary for indirectly heat transfer, direct heat transfer does not need any equipment, and occurs in between the wet solid and the hot gases directly. In this experiment, hot air is given to system and heat transfer have occurred directly between the wet chickpeas and hot air. The effect of temperature, initial moisture content, inclination of rotary dryer, and revolution number are the parameters which are aimed to be observed. Unlike classical approaches, design of experiments (DOE), which is a powerful tool that can be used in a variety of experimental situations, will be used to analyze the effect of operational parameters on output (response variable). A full two level factorial design will be applied to filtrate insignificant factors through ANOVA (Analysis of Variance), and followed by investigating the significant factors using Central Composite Design (CCD). All these analyses will be conducted via MATLAB.